Hristo Makedonski was born in 1835 in the village of Gorni Todorak in the region of Macedonia (today Ano Theodoraki in the Kroussa municipal unit, Kilkis municipality, Kilkis regional unit, Greece), at that time part of the Ottoman Empire.

After permanent Turkish repressions he became haiduk in the band of Stoimen voivode acting in Maleshevo.

In 1864-1865 he led a small detachment, with which on the order of Rakovski made the round of western Bulgarian lands.

Later, in the period 1867-1868 Makedonski took part in the Second Bulgarian Legion and after its disbanding in the spring of 1868, moved to Romania.

In Serbian-Turkish War of 1876 he was a commander of a detachment of Bulgarian volunteers and fought Turkish troops in the region of Visok and near Knjaževac.